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Acquisitions

Acquisitions

Acquisitions

As well as commissioning our own programmes, we search high and low for the best programmes and films in the world to complement them. Our Acquisitions Team supports us on this by managing all aspects of this complex process.

Acquisitions buy and manage all US drama, comedy and non-scripted series for Channel 4, More 4, E4 and Channel 4 streaming. It’s thanks to them that we’ve aired runaway success stories from Will & Grace and Sex & The City, to The Simpsons and South Park.

The key roles in this department include Business Affairs Manager, Assistant Rights Manager, Acquisitions Managers and Acquisitions Executive. Together, they ensure we have a rich diversity of programmes to keep our audience engaged, challenged and entertained, as well as helping to ensure commercial success.

Their job starts when we source the series, one-off or special and continues through every stage, up to and including transmission. We call on Acquisition’s considerable expertise to help us negotiate successfully, plan efficiently and manage our stock of acquired gems effectively. It’s a combination of their energy and commercial savvy that means we go from deciding to buy a show to actually showing that show to our audience with such speed. Things move pretty fast in this department but this is never at the expense of the attention to detail and careful analysis that goes into sourcing programmes that hit the mark.

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Polly Scates - Acquisitions Manager

I work in Programme Acquisitions - a small team with a big remit! We source, secure, and manage the best international series and films on the market. We bring you shows such as Handmaid’s Tale, Big Bang Theory and Married at First Sight Australia, as well as Oscar winners like Parasite and Rocket Man.

As Acquisitions Manager in the series team, I lead on non-scripted opportunities for the Channel 4 portfolio, identifying and negotiating the license deals for these. I love the variety of the role and that I get to speak to lots of different people every day – this could be liaising with internal teams like marketing, compliance and scheduling or meeting with external distributors, producers and other broadcasters.

Channel 4 is a truly unique and lovely place to work where everyone’s voice is valued and heard. You feel like you are all working towards a shared goal which, is really special!